The technical field of the invention relates to warning a pilot when a control member of the aircraft, in particular a pedal for controlling the rudder(s) of the aircraft, is actuated improperly.
If the pilot of the aircraft applies doublets, in particular repeated doublets, as a pedal input, the lateral degrees of freedom of yaw, roll and sideslip are stimulated and this can lead to stimulation of the tumbling movement of the aircraft via the rudder.
If this stimulation occurs at the natural frequency of the tumbling movement (Dutch roll mode), strong responses occur in the aircraft structure owing to resonance. The damping of the tumbling movement is conventionally improved (increased) through the effect of the flight control system, in particular the yaw damper.
The above-mentioned response is intensified further if, in addition, the yaw damper authority of the flight control system can be limited. As a result of the residual low damping, this leads to an intensified lateral response in terms of flight mechanics. Consequently, correspondingly high loading on the aircraft components, for example on the rudder unit, can occur.
The problem of increased aircraft response is conventionally attenuated by increased yaw damping by means of the rudder, provided that the yaw damper still has authority. However, this measure is ineffective if the yaw damping effect is limited.
The alternative would be to increase yaw damping by the roll control surfaces on the wings of the aircraft.
However, this measure is ineffective, since the yaw damping effect of the roll control surfaces is small. These alternatives are also subject to narrow limits owing to practical operating aspects.
A further alternative for increasing yaw damping authority disadvantageously involves additional hardware for the mechanical signal transmission from the pedal to the rudder of the aircraft and thus increased costs and additional weight.